What is CSR2 and how does it affect Iowa land value?

Question

Turnrow Capital · Accepted Answer

CSR2 — Corn Suitability Rating 2 — is Iowa State University's 0–100 index of a soil's inherent row-crop productivity, calculated for every mapped soil in Iowa. Buyers and appraisers commonly quote Iowa farmland in dollars per CSR2 point per acre; higher-rated ground reliably commands more per acre.

CSR2 scores each soil type from field conditions that do not change with management: soil profile, slope, drainage class, and other mapped characteristics. A farm's rating is the acre-weighted average across its soils. An 85 CSR2 farm is genuinely better corn ground than a 60, and the market prices that difference consistently.

The dollars-per-point convention makes comps fast: if quality tillable ground in a county is trading around $150 per CSR2 point, an 80-CSR2 farm pencils near $12,000 per acre. Appraisers use it as a shorthand and a check, not a formula — location, drainage tile, and parcel layout still move the final number.

Be honest about its limits. CSR2 measures potential, not performance — it ignores your actual yields, tile investment, and fertility history, and it says nothing about pasture, timber, or building value. It is also Iowa-specific; neighboring states use different indexes (Illinois uses PI, for example). Treat CSR2 as one strong input, never the whole valuation.